On the second day of Christmas, deacons are called

All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel. (Acts 6:15)

Merry Christmas Season from Discerning Deacons and blessings on this Feast of St. Stephen, whom tradition honors as a deacon and first martyr. 

On this second day of Christmas, the Catholic Church turns from the joy of the Nativity to the call of mission and Gospel proclamation — sometimes at great sacrifice.

In our ongoing study and learning about the gift of deacons in the life and mission of the Church, we came across this gem from Deacon Bill Ditewig which explores the angelic dimension at work in the incarnate life of the deacon.

Today seems like a fitting day to draw our attention to this angelic possibility — deacons as those who stand on the threshold, the thin places. This Christmas, when Jesus is newly placed in our mangers and appearing fragile, we recall how those who would follow him share in his fate, to proclaim a world anew, embraced with the holy, even as the powers which deal death or do not understand him would seek to snuff such life out. 

Deacons help to mediate between this world and the next. They are faithful to the call that, together with all the host of heaven, we give praise: “Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth, peace” 

It is not lost on us that the Church proclaims the joy of Jesus’ birth on December 25, and then, on December 26, sends us out to live that joy in embodied service. We give thanks to ordained Catholic deacons for your faithful ministry. And we give thanks for all the women who find in St. Stephen inspiration for their vocational call to diakonia and service to our one human family.

Merry Christmas from Discerning Deacons!